Finally! Chad will no longer be stuck on a team at the bottom of the AFC East!

....

wait a minute...

Tutor the young QB's? That may be a bonus, but isn't he there to compete for the starting job?

Parcells is not exactly Mr. Patience. He wants to win now.

"Mr. Beck? Mr. Parcells would like to see you for a moment."

I'm sure he can tutor and start at the same times. Besides, by now the only young QB on that roster with a shot is Chad Henne and I'm sure Parcells wants to give him some time to learn off the playing field.

I don't know whether I should call the Vikings stupid or applaud them for trusting their convictions.

At the very least, they can sure as hell not say there weren't solid quarterbacks available. I understand that the Favre deal was never going to happen, but still... they had Brohm and Henne on the board and passed on both. They had Chad Pennginton available for cheap and passed on him. Moreover, they could probably get a guy like Kurt Warner if they really pressed things.

I think this is going to be one of those incredibly smart or incredibly stupid decisions. I don't see there being much of a middle ground on this one.

Dolphins still not going to make playoffs. team has now two Qbs with name Chad.
Jets have two Qbs named Brett.
Redskins only team with Colt but Clots don't have Qb with name of Redskin.

Yeah, Paul, I lamented that the Vikings didn't sign Garcia last year, although I'm not sure he would have been willing to play for the Vikings, and I thought they should sign Pennington. Childress is willing to risk his entire head coaching career on Tavaris Jackson's performance. Ol' Chilly may be as wrong as wrong gets, and he's as stubborn as a mule. Guess will find out how smart the mule is in this instance.

if Jackson sucks, and Frerret also sucks or starts a game and sucks,team can maybe tarde for kurt Warner before tarding dealdine in October. Especially could do it if Leinart plays good so Arizona might make Warner available

Raiderjoe, #5 was inspired lunacy. Inspired by Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, I wonder?

As for #7... not so sure they'd deal Warner even if Leinart looks great. They both have a history of too many dings knocking them out for a few games to rely entirely on one or the other. Maybe that's unfair to Leinart, but I'd want him to play a whole season before letting go of my security blanket.

I've spent at least 7 years hating Pennington and his rag-arm. Now, as a Dolphin fan, I gotta root for this guy?

My only consolation is that he is IS and upgrade over McClown.

It will be worth it if Pennington beats Favre in week 1.

Brett may not be able to play against his former team twice a year, but I will be.

Besides, the weather sure beats New York or Minny.

sigh... well, at least this guy didn't actually cost the team a pick. I guess that's an upgrade.

I hope to God the Phins find a halfway decent QB in either Henne or Beck, because I really can't take much more of this. i know we fans got spoiled with Marino, but c'mon...

For the Dolphins, I think this is a pretty solid move. I think some people will wonder "why bother" with this one because the Dolphins aren't going to be any good any time soon anyway, but I can see it.

Pennington is a solid quarterback who can give you decent production. Moreover, he is a very accurate passer, and he protects the ball well (relatively low career INT percentage). BP values both of those things, and beyond that, let's be honest, he's an upgrade over who they would have had at starting QB. Moreover, from what I can tell they basically signed him for the going rate for starting QB's in the league, so it's not like they really had to spend a ton of money.

The interesting question, I think, is which Dolphins QB now gets the axe. You have to figure that either McCown or Beck will now hit the road, but I'm not sure which one just yet. Beck is obviously the younger of the two, and you would think they would hang onto him a bit longer given what they invested in him, but he has apparently been beaten out by McCown. It's obvious that the organization doesn't think much of his future (hence Henne), and I don't really think anyone believes he is the long-term answer. On the other hand, McCown is a bit older, he's a career journeyman, and they brought him in to basically carry the team through a couple of tough years, and with Pennington on board they really don't need that anymore.

Childress is willing to risk his entire head coaching career on Tavaris Jackson’s performance. Ol’ Chilly may be as wrong as wrong gets, and he’s as stubborn as a mule. Guess will find out how smart the mule is in this instance.

I'll be honest, for the time being I'll give Childress a pass. Yes Jackson looked terrible last year, and I honestly don't see any reason to expect him to go nuts this season. However, he does have great physical tools, and Childress knows a hell of a lot more about it than I ever will, so if he is certain that is the right choice, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being. And besides, the guy does seem to be a pretty good head coach. After all, he has a very good team, QB issues notwithstanding. A lot of people thought they were dumb for taking Peterson, and we all saw how that worked out.

And honestly, a lot of the criticism of Jackson is just stupid. The other day, Florio was bitching on PFT after Jackson threw two picks in pass skeletons, acting like it was the end of the world. Hell, for all he knew one could have came off of a tipped ball, and the other could have been a 60-yard bomb. It's kind of like the old joke about how every time your grandfather told the story about walking to school in the snow... every time he tells it the snow gets a foot deeper and the temperature falls ten degrees. It's kind of like that with Jackson. It's like the more people talk about him the worse he played last year.

:(

I see no way Beck gets the axe. Even if you forget about "2nd round draft pick last year", he's been the only one consistently getting better in camp this year. Sure McCown started off better, but he hasn't improved at all.

So what if he wasn't hand-picked by the current regime? They're not stupid. Bringing in someone like McCown was a good move, IMO, although I always hoped Beck would start. Upgrading McCown --> Pennington seems like a good move as well, although somewhat expensive (but the Phins have plenty of cap space).

For all we know, Pennington may have simply preferred Miami.

I mean, it is a nicer place to be weather-wise down the stretch..

3, 12: FYI, there are plenty of people who think Beck has a chance to be a very good QB in this league, including Ron Jaworski, from what I hear. But it doesn't seem like he was ready this year, hence the move.

McCown is the odd man out, and you should know that.

I'll just go on record as a big supporter of this move for the dolphins, though I think the Vikes could have used him more. I think Chad P. will have a suprisingly good year.

Of course, I've been somewhat of a Jets fan over the years, and I'm a huge Chad P. fan, but that doesn't make me biased at all.

Another good move by the Dolphins. I've really liked their offseason.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see them turn in a 6-10/7-9 type year.

Am I the only one that thought, back when they were both starting, that Chad Pennington and Jay Fielder were awfully similar QB's? Pennington was the more talented of the two, but both seemed to thrive on high accuracy, precision throws in the short and medium game, with a little bit of mobility to offset their lack of a good consistent deep ball. I wonder if Miami fans are willing to go through Jay Fielder 2.0... although Fielder WAS their most successfull QB since Marino retired (poor poor Dolphins).

Re: Raiderjoe #5:
If he were alive today, Tsarevich Alexei would probably be a big Clots fan.

the colts have quarterbacks to burn. someone's gonna be helping out minny. then things can really pick up after the tarding dealdine.

and some others.

I'm a long time Dolphins fan and I must admit that although I've never liked Noodle-arm Pennington, he has managed to beat us and our D on many occasions with efficiency and (believe it or not) the occasional big bomb to Coles.
Emotions aside, this is a cold, calculated upgrade from a business standpoint.
I'll also enjoy watching McCown go to either the Vikings or Bears. At least that's what my money is on.

Will: I agree that Chili shoved all his chips to the middle of the table on Jackson. But while I also wanted them to go after Garcia last year, I didn't think they should go after Pennington. After all, if the plan is to strengthen the vertical(!) passing game to prevent opposing defenses from stacking the box, maybe Pennington isn't exactly the QB you should be signing.

Jackson looked very good last night. The pass defense did not, although Jared Allen's sprints into the backfield were stirring.

Jackson gets this year to show more improvement, or Gus finishes out the season, and the Vikings draft Tebow (unless the Bears get him first--they've had great luck with Florida QBs in the past).

Next year, Favre can wrangle (get it?) his release from the Jets for one final run with the Vikings.

#20:
I actually liked Frerotte (sp?) a lot. He wasn't a great QB by any means, but he looked like Manning compared to the other jokers we've had recently (Fielder excluded). The guy led us to a 9-7 record and made Chambers into a pro bowler.

Then we let him go and trade for Culpepper instead of signing Brees. Somebody kill me.

#20: Pennington, when he was healthy and "on" was WAY better than Fiedler. Stylistically, I see no similarities.

#19: Frerotte was horrible. He had some big games where he chucked the ball into the sky, and Chambers bailed him out, but he consistently missed on easy passes.

With regards to which QB will get the axe, I think it will be conditional based upon whether anyone will trade for Beck. if yes, then he is gone, even for a 6th rd pick. If not, then McCown gets the boot.

On the McCown v. Beck debate...

PFT is now reporting that McCown will not play in the Dolphins preseason opener, and that Beck will get the snaps instead. Interestingly enough, though, according to PFT, Beck has looked terrible thus far in camp, and unless he looks better in the next couple of weeks, he will be the odd man out.

Honestly, as I alluded to earlier, I could see it going either way. McCown is nothing special, but then again neither is Beck, and honestly neither of the two fit into the Dolphins' plans anymore. McCown is no longer the stop-gap with Pennington in town, and with Pennington the starter today and Henne the starter of the future, Beck doesn't figure to see any time. And I know he was a second round pick, but he's also a much older than usual player, and it's not like BP and company picked him, so there isn't any loyalty there.

Like I said, I could see it going either way. Neither of the two have any long-term future with the club, and frankly it might all come down to who might give them some possible trade value.

I sure Dolphins management doesn't see it like that, PaulH. Just because he hasn't played well so far doesn't mean Beck will never be a good player, and who drafted who seems like too petty a criteria for me. After all, if they trade/release Beck, he'll go to a team that didn't draft him either. And as for loyalty, well, it seems odd to even mention the concept in this particular thread.

Beck had a dreadful start to camp, but has been better than Mccown the last week or so

Let's not forget that the Dolphins offensive coordinator is Dan Henning. He orchestrated the Panthers' offense from '02-'06, and emphasized a power running game, with a play-action vertical passing game.

From the very little I've seen of Pennington, he's not suited for this type of offense.

Ted Ginn Jr. will take on the role of the deep threat that Steve Smith did so well in Carolina. I just don't see Pennington as able to hit the deep post or corner route that is a staple of the Henning offense.

I don't get why Pennington would want to go to Miami. He's a good quarterback. Why does he want to go to a place where he knows he's going to be a loser?

I agree with the above sentiments that Pennington should be a Viking. Like.... Tavaris Jackson? Really? I live in Jersey so I see Pennington weekly and as embarassing as his arm is from time to time, he's still three times the quarterback Jackson is.

The Vikings are putting wayyyyy to much faith in this kid. At least bring in someone to compete with him for the job, they have a darn good team otherwise.

As a Jets fan, this is the last place I wanted Pennington to end up. I can't imagine him in those embarrassingly ugly unis in front of those embarrassing fans. I hope he plays really well and the Miami defense gives up 100 points a game. Man, do I hate the fish.

Good luck, Chad. Thanks for the memories.

This makes a lot of sense for all involved:

For Chad: He's not good enough to be the starting QB on a good team;
he has personal relationships with Parcells, Henning, etc.

For Miami: Chad is a good leader and has always been willing to mentor younger players;
he's still a decent qb;
the team is going to be terrible, and instead of throwing a young qb to the wolves (see David Carr), you can use a vet qb as a sacrificial lamb to absorb the abuse and losing and then turn the team over to the "qb of the future";
Chad gives the Dolphins excellent scouting reports on the Jets- maybe they steal a win from NYJ because of this

This looks bad for Beck. A great move for the Dolphins. Chad played well last season. I he probably doesn't have the body to stand 16 NFL games as a starter, but should have plenty to start 6-8 games while the Dolphins take looks at the other young QBs. For Chad it has to be a downer to know your not getting any closer to a winning team. You have to wonder what other SB contenders were thinking not getting Chad into camp.

re 34, except for their pass defense.

I wonder what is going to happen with Culpepper. Wouldn't he be a better fit for the Vikings than CHad. He is the best free agent quarterback out there.

I wonder what is going to happen with Culpepper. Wouldn’t he be a better fit for the Vikings than CHad. He is the best free agent quarterback out there.

I don't think so. Even past history aside, Culpepper has been absolutely terrible since 2004, and there's just not much left in the tank. He's a turnover machine, his mobility is all but gone, and he's just a below average quarterback.

Pennington is no Namath, but he's a pretty solid QB who has posted decent production. Moreover, he's a good leader in the locker room and he protects the football well, and I don't think anyone would give Culpepper good grades in either category.

I don't claim to be an expert, but I do think it would be very hard to make a valid argument that Culpepper would be considered an upgrade over Pennington at this stage of his career.

Pennington won't last 16 games. McCown is still needed to take some starts at the end of the season.

I bet Beck was starting the pre-season game to "showcase" his abilities and start a trade market.

And speak of a wise use of resources, the fins drafted a deep-threat in the first round last year and now sign a weak arm QB who can't throw more than 35 passes per game. No way Ginn develop this year but Wilford and Hagan become important pieces of this attack.

I'm pretty sure Pennington owns a home in Florida. And despite what he says, revenge was a big motive.

As for protecting the football, his biggest problem last year was throwing killer interceptions and making some really bad decisions. He's most effective when he's got time to throw - if the Dolphins OL sucks this year, he won't help much.

Re: #5

At least, like the Saints of old, they don't have two QB's named Billy Jo.

Wow. I go away for the weekend and this happens. Miami might have a legit chance to win 5 games now.

#21 - Took me awhile, but bravo.